Relic Wine Hunters

watch men who are searching – and then cultivating – the rarest vines in the world

While over 10,000 grape varieties exist, only 1500 of them are used to make wine today and only 30% of those are used to make 70%M of all wines sold on the market. All over Europe wine experts have entered a race against time to save some almost extinct vines and rekindle the flavours of yesteryear.

This series includes three episodes on the men who are searching – and then cultivating – the rarest vines in the world. They are experts from France, Italy and America who spend their time exploring abandoned mountain villages and valleys for examples of vines left behind by our ancestors when the more famous and commercial wines made their appearance on the tables of the world. They originate in far flung hillsides the Mediterranean basin, and scientists are studying their genetic patrimony while wine researchers are climbing the rough hills of Sicily, Southern France and Greece to find the relics of past viticulture glory: grape plants that have survived in the wild.